Thus Spake the Lord

Form vs Formless

I have come to light the lamp of love in your hearts, to see that it shines day by day with added luster. I have come to tell you of this universal, unitary faith, this spiritual principle, this path of love, this duty of love, this obligation to love. Every religion teaches man to fill his being with the glory of God and to evict the pettiness of conceit. It trains him in the methods of unattachment and discernment, so that he may aim high and attain spiritual liberation. Believe that all hearts are motivated by the one and only God; that all faiths glorify the one and only God; that all names in all languages and all forms man can conceive denote the one and only God. His adoration is best done by means of love. Cultivate that attitude of oneness between men of all creeds and all countries. That is the message of love I bring. That is the message I wish you to take to heart.

I have come not to disturb or destroy any faith, but to confirm each in his own faith – so that Christian becomes a better Christian, the Muslim, a better Muslim, and the Hindu, a better Hindu.

Let the different faiths exist, let them flourish, and let the glory of God be sung in all the languages and a variety of tunes. That should be the ideal. Respect the differences between the faiths and recognize them as valid as long as they do not extinguish the flame of unity.

Whom the Muslims adore as Allah, Whom the Christians adore as Jehovah, Whom the Vaishnavas adore as Vishnu, Whom the Saivites adore as Sambhu, Who grants in answer to their several prayers, health, prosperity and happiness to all, wherever they may be, He, the One God, is the God of all mankind. God is One and only One. Have His thought in your minds.

There is only one religion, the religion of Love.

There is only one language, the language of the Heart;
There is only one caste, the caste of Humanity;
There is only one law, the law of Karma;
There is only one God, He is Omnipresent.

Religions are many, but God is one; Jewels are many, but Gold is one; Appearances are many, but Reality is One; Cows may be of different breeds or colors or sizes, but milk they yield is the same, the world over. So too, all religions, what ever their origin or extent of influence, are means to teach man this process.

Do not give room for differences based on language, religion, caste or nationality. Develop the feeling that all are children of God. You may worship God in any form of your choice, but always bear in mind that God is one. Cultivate love and promote unity and harmony among all. – Selected quotes from the Discourses of Sri Sathya Sai Baba

People worship the Supreme Lord (Paramatma) as existing in some faraway place – say Ayodhya or Dwaraka and nowhere else, or as found in places where some image or picture exists and nowhere else. They worship that form itself as complete (Purna). Of course, it is not wrong to do so. What is wrong is to proclaim that only their belief is the truth, that the names and forms that they have ascribed are the only names and forms of the Divine, and that all other forms and names are worthless and inferior. It should be realized that the names and forms that are the ideals of others are as dear and sacred to those others as such names and forms are to oneself. Everyone should acquire the vision that all forms of the ideal are equally valid and true, without giving room to senseless hatred. Without internalizing this wisdom, it is impossible to realize the Divine. – Prema Vahini Chap. 36

God is love, God is truth, God is peace. God is bliss. Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba in His subtle form has broken free from all preconceived concepts of Desha (place), Kaala (time) and Paristhiti (circumstances). God does not belong to one place, one community or one sect, He belongs to the whole universe. He is one but seen as many, the scriptures describe this as “Ekam Sat Vipra Bahuda Vadanthi”.

Devoid of all names and forms He is, Yet all names and forms are His. God is formless and attributeless, but He also assumes a form with attributes. There is sakara (with form) in nirakara (formless) and nirakara in sakara. Likewise, there is saguna (attributes) in nirguna (attributeless) and vice versa. A block of ice has a form, but it is not different from water. There can be no ice without water. When drops of water freeze, they form ice. The difference between sakara and nirakara is the same as the difference between ice and water.

If a Muslim wanted to study the Hindu scriptures, Swami would say, “First know your own religion well and deeply. All that is there in other religions is there in yours too”. We know of great Hindu saints, Muslim pirs and religious heads, Buddhist monks from Thailand, Tibet and other parts of the world, Devout Catholics, Protestants, Jewish Rabbis and revered heads of other religions who have to come to Swami and have been astounded on how much He knew about their religion. These religious heads who were dedicated to the serious study of their faiths for decades, would often be corrected on their interpretation of their Holy texts by Swami Himself. Please read Sai baba and the Muslim Mind by Prof. Zeba Bashiruddin (http://scriptures.ru/sb_mm.htm) to gain insights into universality of Sai Teachings.

Sarva Dharma Priya Sai

Prophecies say that: Muslims will recognize him only nine years before His passing from the world. -Bihar-ul-Anwar (Source: Sai Thy Kingdom Come Chapter 7, page 42)

Before Darshan was meditation. Now Meditation is my darshan. Develop ‘Ishq’ and ‘Mohabbat’ in your heart and feel me in your heart.

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On Shivaratri day in 1958 the monthly magazine designed to communicate the message of Bhagavan to the world was inaugurated. He named it Sanathana Sarathi. These two words taken together spell the function that Baba has taken upon Himself. Sanathana denotes His being the very source of all this ‘becoming’. In a written message to Shri. R.R. Chatterji of the Sathya Sai Seva Samithi, Calcutta, announcing the mission for which He has assumed this human form, Baba made a declaration which nobody since the days of Lord Krishna had the good fortune to listen to:

“There was no one to know who I am till I created the world, at My pleasure, with one word. Immediately earth and sky were formed, mountains rose up, rivers started flowing, sun, moon and stars sprang out of nowhere to prove My existence. Came all forms of life – plants, insects, beasts, birds and men. Various powers were bestowed upon them under My orders. The first place was granted to man, and My knowledge was placed in man’s mind.”

Sanathana means ‘timeless, eternal’. Baba has said that He always was, is, and ever will be.He is Sanathana, not limited in time and space, so that He can be availed of by us any time any where. The Upanishads speak of embodied beings as chariots which are drawn along by the senses (horses) through the objective world. Safety lies in choosing a knowledgeable Sarathi (charioteer) and installing him with unimpeded authority in the chariot. – Sathyam Sivam Sundaram IV

Chariot Analogy From Katha Upanishad

Know that the Atman is the rider in the chariot, and the body is the chariot, Know that the Buddhi (intelligence, ability to reason) is the charioteer, and Manas (mind) is the reins. The senses are called the horses, the objects of the senses are their paths, Formed out of the union of the Atman, the senses and the mind, him they call the “enjoyer“. – Katha Upanishad, 1.3.3-1.3.4

By taking upon Himself the role of the Sanathana Sarathi, Baba has revealed that He is the eternal Inner Motivator in all-recognized or unrecognized, acknowledged or ignored, respected or slandered. “My knowledge was placed in man’s mind,” He says. But the mind allows itself to be covered by veils, so that pure knowledge becomes warped or is denied.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna asks Krishna about the mind: Chancalam hi manah Krishna pramadi balavadrudham, meaning ‘Oh! Krishna, the mind is so fickle. How can it be controlled?’ Krishna says in another verse: Abhyasa yogena tato mamicchaptum Dhananjaya; meaning, through practice, the vacillation of this mind can be controlled.

“God cannot be realized by a mind that is hypocritical, calculating, or argumentative. one must have faith and sincerity. hypocrisy will not do. to the sincere, God is very near; but he is far, far away from the hypocrite.” – Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

Body is like a water bubble. Mind is like a mad monkey. Don’t follow the body, don’t follow the mind. Follow the conscience. Your conscience is your witness.

There is this story in the Mahabharata when Arjuna accepts whatever Krishna says regarding the bird sitting on the tree. Krishna asks Arjuna, “Don’t you have your own discrimination? You say it is a pigeon, and then change it to a crow when I say it.” Arjuna says, “O! Krishna, I have more faith in your words than in my own wisdom.”

divine sankalpa

On one occasion Swami sang another poem which had spontaneously blossomed on His lips:

“Why does the sun rise and set everyday without delay or disruption? Why do the stars that light the sky to the delight of all eyes, hide their splendorous faces when the day dawns, and never even slyly peer to tell us where they are? Why does air always be around, giving us the breath of life? Why do these streams and rivers roar, murmur, gurgle and gossip over rock, pebble and sand, as they meander along towards the parent sea? How is it that the billions that constitute mankind, though they are caskets treasuring images of the same entity, remain distinct from each other in appearance, achievement, aspiration and attitude? This is the answer: Know that I am the One who has ordained that these be such and shall behave so.”

From the Form to the Formless

“You commence your journey from the stage of dualism and finally end up in the stage of non-dualism. You start your spiritual practice with the very ordinary type of devotion, worshipping God with form and attributes and using rituals and external forms of worship. But then you quickly progress onto the formless, the absolute aspect of the Divinity. In this way, you initially develop yourself spiritually by being a servant of God, but eventually you become fully identified with God. Consider, for a moment, a very big circle, and consider that just by its side and separate from it there is another circle, one which is very much smaller. The big circle may be thought of as God, the small one as the individual soul. Here the individual is different and distinct from God; this is dualism. When you bring the smaller circle in so that it lies within the bigger circle, you have qualified non-dualism; now the individual is part of the Divinity, he exists in God. What then is the meaning of the individual becoming totally merged in God? The small circle has to broaden itself and grow bigger and bigger until it has fully expanded to the size of the big circle. At that point the two circles are indistinguishable and man has merged himself into God. This is complete non-dualism.” – Sai Gita Compiled and edited by Al Drucker

“God is formless and attributeless, but He also assumes a form with attributes. There is sakara (with form) in nirakara (formless) and nirakara in sakara. Likewise, there is saguna (attributes) in nirguna (attributeless) and viceversa. A block of ice has a form, but it is not different from water. There can be no ice without water. When drops of water freeze, they form ice. The difference between sakara and nirakara is the same as the difference between ice and water.” – From Bhagavan’s Discourse in Sai Kulwant Hall, Prasanthi Nilayam on 17 July 1996

“You cannot discard Name and Form until you transmute yourself into the Nameless and Formless; just as the fish needed water and could not come up into the atmosphere, so long as they did not transmute themselves into land animals, giving up their aquatic nature. That is the reason why the Nameless and Formless has often to assume Name and Form, and come before humanity with limitations imposed by its own Will, so that it may be loved, respected, worshipped, listened to and followed; so that the purpose of humanity may be fulfilled.” – From Bhagawan’s Discourse on 4th March 1962

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Swami had a special affinity to this place which he called as Tapobhumi (land of penance), inhabited by the Tyagajeevies (Selfless individuals) who took a vow of celibacy (to free themselves from the encumbrances of marriage and family life) to serve the humanity.

Sri Narsimha Murthy spoke in an informal interview about the direct instructions, he received from Swami about preparing this place as his future residence. Swami himself laid the foundation stone of his future residence in “Sai Anandam”. Many past devotees confirmed the fact that Swami mentioned about living on a hilltop abode in the last remaining years of his avatarhood.

Watch this presentation from Radiosai to learn and appreciate, how a little seed planted a few years ago by our beloved Lord has grown into a fully blossomed tree now.

Bhagavan has declared that He has incarnated on earth for Dharma Rakshanaand Veda Poshana (protection of Dharma and fostering of the Vedas). Bhagavan has therefore been promoting the teaching of the Vedas and exhorting mankind to adhere to truth, love, righteousness and honesty in life which will certainly reinforce Sanathana Dharma, raise the consciousness of man and restore balance, harmony and equilibrium of the universe.

Sanathana Dharma is, in fact, the most precious gift to man by the Supreme Being who is called by different names, like God, Allah, Bhagwan, Paramatma, Brahman or Ishwar by different people of the world. Bhagavan has incarnated to fulfil His Divine Mission of protection of Dharma and redemption of mankind.

He has emphatically declared: “The calamity that has come upon mankind will be averted. A new Golden Age will recur. I shall not fail. It is not the nature of Avatars to fail.”

To further emphasise His point, Bhagavan has declared on numerous occasions
that He has come with full glory of God to accomplish the mission He has undertaken.

To quote His words: “In My present Avatar, I have come armed with fullness of the power of Formless God to correct mankind, raise human consciousness and put people on the path of truth, righteousness, peace and love, leading to Divinity”.

There are millions of people from all parts of the world who have witnessed the effulgence of Divine Glory embodied in the human form of Bhagavan and have experienced the truth of His Divinity which He has been manifesting since His childhood.

Once a Sea Turtle was passing by a well on its way back to its home in the ocean. Out of curiosity, he looked down inside the well and saw a big fat Frog who has lived all his life, feeding on a rich diet of insects and worms in that small, remote and isolated well; totally oblivious to the outside world.

The Frog croaked loudly, with great excitement when he saw the reflection of the Sea Turtle, peeping from above in the calm waters of the well.

‘Hello stranger, where are you from?’ the Frog asked the Sea Turtle.

Sea Turtle replied that he is from the nearby ocean and would like to get back to it as soon as possible. The Frog persisted ‘How big is your ocean?’ He opened his mouth wide. ‘Is it bigger than my mouth?’ the Frog enquired earnestly.

Sea Turtle was at a loss, wondering how to make the Frog in the well, comprehend the vastness of the ocean. However he politely answered that the ocean is definitely much bigger than his open mouth.

Frog was obviously not pleased with Sea Turtle’s curt reply. He jumped from the ledge where he was sitting to another perch inside the well. He asked the Sea Turtle again “Is your ocean even bigger than the distance I jumped through in that last leap?’

Sea Turtle was slowly getting a little impatient with the Frog’s seemingly endless questions. He replied that Ocean is much much bigger than anything he has ever seen or heard.

Frog was still curious to know more about this mysterious ocean. He was not ready to let the Sea Turtle slip away before answering his one last and final question. He stood tall on his perch, puffed up his body by sucking in as much air as he could and asked the Sea Turtle in all seriousness. ‘Please tell me. Is your ocean even bigger than my well?‘

Sea Turtle replied in the same calm manner. “Yes my friend. It is many times bigger than your well”.

Frog immediately leapt in the air with great sense of jubilation. He said to Sea Turtle, ‘You liar, I knew you were making up all those lies about your ocean so far, but you have been well and truly cornered now as I know it for a fact that nothing in this entire world can be bigger than my well.’

Sea Turtle simply shook his head and resumed its journey back to the ocean, leaving the ignorant Frog behind.

It is delusion(maya) that binds and limits man; all sadhana is to conquer delusion.” -SSS Vol 1, Chap 19 P 114

He announced that He had come again to proclaim the same principles laid out in the Bhagavad Gita: To give up the fruit of one’s actions and live a life of surrender. “Just as the clouds hide the glory of the Sun, the clouds of doubt and delusion hide My Glory from your understanding,” He said. What Baba wants of all is release from the shackles of “I” and “mine,” just like Arjuna who gave up his ignorance when liberated by Krishna. He informs us that love is the seed, devotion the sprout, faith the manure, good company the rain, surrender the flower, and merging with the lord the fruit.

“There is no one in this world who does not belong to Me” – Baba

“You are all more fortunate,’ He said, “than men of previous generations, for you have Me as your guide and guardian, watching over you and warning you when your steps go wrong. Make the best use of this rare chance;do not leap about like frogs, ignoring the lotus that blooms by their side, but be like the bees that swarm from far and near to drink the nectar in plenty.”

Frog in a Lotus Pond

This sweet little poem composed by Swami himself conveys beautifully that He is beyond all names and forms.

About this blog

Pure Consciousness has no form

Sai Pearls of Wisdom

The Sun is up there in the sky; it is the passing cloud that hides it from your vision. The sensory world is the cloud that hides the Aathma, ever shining in the firmament of your heart. The same mind that gathers the clouds can also disperse them in an instant; for it is as the wind which collects them from all the quarters and renders the sky dark; and the next moment, changing direction, sends them in a scurry to wherever they came from! Train the mind to disperse the clouds, not to gather them. Every aspirant has to do this by following a systematic discipline.